Manufacture of iron castings and other metal castings is known to include inserting a casting core into a mold and pouring molten metal into the mold. Known methods of automatically placing the core into the mold with an automated device via a mechanical alignment process typically include placing the mold in a flask in a known, fixed location, and utilizing pins and bushings mechanically align the core with the mold prior to insertion. Such mechanical alignment processes fail when the pins do not have a fixed orientation with respect to the mold or the image disposed in the mold.
Casting cores today may be very heavy, depending on their application. For example, casting cores utilized to make cast iron components in the automotive industry may weight over 100 pounds or 50 kilograms. At times, the tolerance between the core and the mold is as small as 0.010 inches. When a core is heavy and tolerances are tight, manual placement in an efficient manner without damaging the mold is very difficult if not impossible.
Accordingly, there is a need for an automated method of setting cores in a mold, which method accommodates for pin-mold orientation, tight tolerances, and core weight.